Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve praised Plex in the past for delivering us box-free XMBC and for it’s prodigious media streaming proficiency. Problem is, its app wasn’t optimized for the Honeycomb OS and the upsized screen real estate of Android slates — until now. With the updated code comes tablet-friendly layouts and fast-scrolling in all grid and list views so you can zip through your large local media library. It also includes direct play and internet streaming sans-transcoding (just like the recently revised iOS app) for sating those right now vid cravings. The improvements serve smaller Android devices as well, which makes the newly egalitarian app more enticing than ever before. Best of all, it’s still only five bucks.

[Thanks, Andrew]

Plex plays nice with your Honeycomb slate after app update originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 11:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Good news for Android users who hate paying for stuff: according to new numbers from Netherlands-based mobile analytics group Distimo, there are now more free apps available for Google’s mobile OS than the iPhone, at 134,342 to 121,845. There are a few things to consider here: first, when one adds free iPad-only apps, the total number of gratis iOS apps increases to a more competitive 132,239. And then there’s Apple’s sometimes rigorous vetting process, which has probably played a role in its numeric slippage — after all, this report doesn’t highlight things like legality, repetition, or the overall number of apps dedicated to making farting noises. Also, Apple has a lot more premium apps, giving it the overall lead at 333,124 to 206,143 — but between Android’s rapid growth and what the report terms iOS’s relative stagnation, Distimo expects Google to take the top spot in five months’ time, outnumbering iPhone and iPad apps combined — a rough scenario for Cupertino to stomach, no doubt, but at least the company will still have Windows Phone to kick around a while longer. [Source link requires registration]

Shocker! Free Android apps outnumber free iPhone apps originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Staring at spreadsheets crushed down to unreadable sizes on a 4-inch phone screen is far from pleasurable but, clearly there is a demand. In fact, we’ve been clamoring for a proper Google Docs app for ages, even though sometimes we’re not entirely sure why. It was only a matter of time before Google finally got around to appeasing us mobile workaholics and put an official app in the Android Market. Well, our masochistic prayers were answered — the Mighty Goog unleashed the new, native Google Docs for Android app and we rushed on over to the Market, clicked the install button, and gave it a whirl.

Continue reading Google Docs gets an Android app, we go hands-on with tiny spreadsheets (video)

Google Docs gets an Android app, we go hands-on with tiny spreadsheets (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’ve done any Kindling on your Xoom or your G-Slate or your Transformer or whatever little slice of Honeycomb you’re calling home, chances are you’ve noticed the app isn’t exactly optimized for the relatively big screen of your slate. Well, now it has been. As promised, Amazon has just pushed an update to the Kindle app that makes it decidedly more 3.0-friendly. Gone is the ugly list of books, replaced by a lovely grid of titles including cover art. Just tap to start reading. Text itself within the books is higher-res and page turning seems snappier too. Worth the download? For sure — especially since it’s still free.

Continue reading Amazon updates Kindle app for Honeycomb, shows that tablets really do exist

Amazon updates Kindle app for Honeycomb, shows that tablets really do exist originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Believe it or not, we’re still rooting for Ruslan Kogan and the rest of his Aussie compatriots, but the company’s announcement today of an Android 2.2 set-top TV box with full Market access is, as usual, equal parts intriguing and unbelievable. The Kogan Agora Internet TV Portal: Powered by Android is priced at A$149 with a 1GHz Cortex A8 processor from Samsung, 512MB of RAM, 2GB of flash storage, HDMI output and three USB ports for external storage, that it claims will bring the full internet — including everyone’s favorite Angry Birds — to your TV screen. According to the sales page it’s expected to ship May 27th to anywhere you like, as long as it’s in Australia or the UK. We’ll mark our calendars to see if it beats official Google TV boxes to Market access in the living room (we’re still waiting for the TV shown off last year), but in the meantime check after the break for a press release with more details on this box, a familiar looking 7-inch tablet that also claims access to the Market’s thousands of apps and a couple of netbooks. Finally, we spotted a video from ARM fan Charbax checking out what could be the OEM version of the TV box at CeBIT, so that’s included after the break as well.

Continue reading Kogan’s Agora Internet TV Portal promises Android Market access, our LCDs remain skeptical

Kogan’s Agora Internet TV Portal promises Android Market access, our LCDs remain skeptical originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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